Obama gives deadline for sexual assault cases

Gary Martinand David McCumber

Updated 9:24 pm, Friday, December 20, 2013

WASHINGTON -- President Obama praised historic reforms passed by Congress to crack down on sexual assaults in the military, but said Friday he would give the Pentagon one year to make progress before agreeing to more stringent changes.

"As commander in chief, I've made it clear that these crimes have no place in the greatest military on Earth," Obama said.

Obama said that as long as women and men in uniform "face the insider threat of sexual assault, we have an urgent obligation to do more to support victims and hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes."

The Senate late Thursday passed a sweeping defense bill, 84-15, that contains dozens of reforms aimed at eradicating sexual assault from the ranks of the armed services.

Senators are expected to take up a controversial bill early next year by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., that would further reform the military justice system by stripping commanders of the decision on prosecuting sexual assault cases and instead vesting that authority with military lawyers, a proposal the Pentagon claims would weaken the chain of command and unit discipline.

"If I do not see the kind of progress I expect, then we will consider additional reforms that may be required to eliminate this crime from our military ranks," Obama said.

Gillibrand praised the president for his commitment, but said she would continue to push forward with her bill which enjoys support from a majority of lawmakers in the Senate.

"Nowhere in America do we allow a boss to decide if an employee was sexually assaulted or not, except in the U.S. military," Gillibrand said. "We owe our service members better."

Support for Gillibrand's amendment crosses political and ideological lines, from tea party conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a former state solicitor general, to liberal Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a former U.S. prosecutor and former state attorney general.

"I think we should move ahead right away on a more aggressive reform, to designate trained and experienced military prosecutors to make decisions about whether cases should be brought," Blumenthal said, adding, "I respect the president's view as commander in chief, but there is more than ample evidence that there is a need for independent decision-making by trained prosecutors."

Despite the support for the amendment, Gillibrand lacks the 60 votes needed in the Senate to break a filibuster or parliamentary delays.

An alternate reform package has been offered in the Senate by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., that would retain the chain of command authority in sexual assault decisions to prosecute. Although they disagree on that one issue, both McCaskill and Gillibrand were advocates of dozens of the reforms that were included in the defense bill.

The legislation provides more protections to victims, creates citizen review of military prosecutions and mandates a dishonorable discharge for anyone convicted of rape or sexual assault.

McCaskill called the measures included in the defense bill historic and a win for victims of sexual assault, but cautioned, "This is no finish line."

McCaskill said she agreed with the president "that we should give these significant reforms the time they need to succeed."

"And I, too, plan to spend the next year holding commanders accountable, and ensuring that these historic reforms are implemented forcefully and effectively," McCaskill said.

Legislation addressing military sexual assault follows a year of congressional hearings that focused on numerous scandals across all service branches.

And an investigative series by the San Antonio Express-News, "Twice Betrayed," documented widespread cases of retaliation against sexual assault victims and the failure of the Pentagon to provide legal and medical support.

Some of the victims said they were dismissed from the military after they reported the abuse.

The Pentagon estimated that there were more than 26,000 sexual assaults last year. But congressional critics, such as Gillibrand, point out that just over 300 cases were prosecuted.

She said that in many cases, the victims "lacked the confidence to report their attacks out of fear their chain of command would not act, or worse yet, retaliate against them."

"I do not want to wait another year to enact the one reform survivors have asked for in removing commanders with no legal training and conflicts of interest from the decision of whether or not to prosecute a rape or sexual assault," Gillibrand said.